Enemy Alien
a Palestinian activist's fight for freedom draws a Japanese American
filmmaker into confrontation with detention regimes of past and present.

Documentary, 2011, 82 minutes
A project of Life or Liberty
Directed by Konrad Aderer

Enemy Alien, a first-person documentary, is the gripping story of the fight to free Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a gentle but indomitable Palestinian-born human rights activist detained in a post-9/11 sweep of Muslim immigrants. Told through the eyes of the filmmaker, the grandson of Japanese Americans interned during World War II, this documentary takes on unprecedented intimacy and historical resonance.

As the filmmaker confronts his own family legacy of incarceration, his involvement in the current struggle deepens. Resistance brings consequences: In retaliation for organizing a massive protest from inside detention, Farouk is beaten and locked in solitary confinement, and his American-born son Tarek is arrested in a counterterrorism investigation into the documentary itself.

Press kit with full synopsis

Enemy Alien is a production of Life or Liberty, a nonprofit media project telling stories of immigrant communities targeted by enforcement and "national security" profiling.

Life or Liberty is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Life or Liberty must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

The documentary Enemy Alien has received support from:

New York State Council for the Arts	The Fledgling Fund	Center for Asian American Media
A.J. Muste Memorial Institute	Rooftop Films	Director Konrad Aderer is a 2006 grant recipient from the Urban Artist Initiative/New York City
The Funding Exchange	Manhattan Community Arts Fund/New York Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.	The Puffin Foundation